Biography: Burt Reynolds

Burton Leon "Burt" Reynolds, Jr.^[2] (born February 11, 1936) is an American actor. Some of his memorable roles include Lewis Medlock in Deliverance, Bobby "Gator" McCluskey in White Lightning, Paul "Wrecking" Crewe in The Longest Yard, Coach Nate Scarborough in the 2005 remake of The Longest Yard, Bo 'Bandit' Darville in Smokey and the Bandit, J.J. McClure in The Cannonball Run, the voice of Charlie B. Barkin in All Dogs Go to Heaven, and Jack Horner in Boogie Nights. He is one of America's most recognizable film and television personalities with more than 90 feature film and 300 television episode credits.

Early life

Reynolds' parents were Burton Reynolds, who was of a quarter Cherokee ancestry,^[3] and his wife, Fern. Reynolds states in his autobiography that his family was living in Lansing when his father was drafted into the United States Army.^[1] Reynolds, his mother and his sister joined his father at Fort Leonard Wood, where they lived for two years. When Reynolds's father was sent to Europe, the family returned to Lansing, Michigan. In 1946, Reynolds moved to Riviera Beach with his parents. His father, Burt Sr. later became Chief of Police of Riviera Beach. Riviera Beach is located about 10 miles north of West Palm Beach.
In his senior year at Palm Beach High School, Reynolds was named First Team All State and All Southern as a fullback, and received multiple scholarship offers.^[4] After graduating from Palm Beach High School in West Palm Beach, Florida, Reynolds attended Florida State University on a college football scholarship, becoming an all-star halfback.^[5] Reynolds hoped to be named to All American teams, and to have a career in professional football. In the first game of the season Reynolds was injured, and a car accident later that year worsened the injury. With his college football career ended, Reynolds considered becoming a police officer, but his father suggested that he finish college and become a parole officer. In order to keep up with his studies he began taking classes at Palm Beach Junior College (PBJC) in neighboring Lake Worth, Florida. In his first term at PBJC Reynolds was in a class taught by Watson B. Duncan III. Duncan pushed Reynolds into trying out for a play he was producing, Outward Bound. He cast Reynolds in the lead, based on his impressions from listening to Reynolds read Shakespeare in class. Reynolds won the 1956 Florida State Drama Award for his performance in Outward Bound. Reynolds calls Duncan his mentor and the most-influential person in his life.^[6]

Acting career

The Florida State Drama Award included a scholarship to the Hyde Park Playhouse, a summer stock theater, in Hyde Park, New York. Reynolds saw the opportunity as an agreeable alternative to more physically demanding summer jobs, but did not yet see acting as a career. While working at Hyde Park, Reynolds met Joanne Woodward, who helped Reynolds find an agent, and be cast in Tea and Sympathy at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City. Reynolds received favorable reviews for his performance in Tea and Sympathy. Reynolds then went on tour with Tea and Sympathy, driving the bus as well as appearing on stage.^[7]

After the tour Reynolds returned to New York and enrolled in acting classes. His classmates included Frank Gifford, Carol Lawrence, Red Buttons and Jan Murray. After a botched improvisation in acting class, Reynolds briefly considered returning to Florida, but he soon got a part in a revival of Mister Roberts, with Charlton Heston as the star. After the play closed, the director, John Forsythe, arranged a movie audition with Josh Logan for Reynolds. The movie was Sayonara, and Reynolds was told he couldn't be in the movie because he looked too much like Marlon Brando. Logan advised Reynolds to go to Hollywood, but Reynolds did not feel confident enough to do so.^[8]

Reynolds worked odd jobs while waiting for acting opportunities. He waited tables, washed dishes, drove a delivery truck and worked as a bouncer at the Roseland Ballroom. It was while working as a dockworker that Reynolds was offered $150 to jump through a glass window on a live television show.^[9]

He made his Broadway debut in Look, We've Come Through. Reynolds first starred on television with Darren McGavin in the 1959-1961 NBC series, Riverboat. In 1960-1961, he appeared in two episodes of the syndicated series The Blue Angels, about elite fliers of the United States Navy. That same season, he guest starred in the syndicated crime drama, The Brothers Brannagan in the episode "Bordertown". Reynolds went on to appear in a number of other shows, including a role as blacksmith/ defacto depute, and half-Native American Quint Asper on CBS's Gunsmoke from 1962–1965. On June 11, 1959, he appeared as Tony Sapio with Ruta Lee as Gloria Fallon in the episode entitled "The Payoff" of NBC's 1920s crime drama, The Lawless Years. In 1962 Reynolds secured a guest appearance on Perry Mason in "The Case of the Counterfeit Crank".

His film debut was in 1961, in the movie Angel Baby. At the urging of friend Clint Eastwood, Reynolds used his TV fame to secure leading roles in overseas low budget films, commonly called "Spaghetti Westerns". (Eastwood advised Reynolds from experience, as he had done the same). Reynolds first Spaghetti Western, Navajo Joe, came out in 1966. These low budget starring roles established Reynolds as a bankable leading man in movies, and earned him starring roles in American big-budget motion pictures. During this period, he starred in two short-lived cop shows: Hawk and Dan August. He disparaged these shows, telling Johnny Carson that Dan August had "two forms of expression: mad and supermad." His breakout performance in Deliverance in 1972 made him a star. The same year, Reynolds gained notoriety when he posed naked in the April (Vol. 172, No. 4) issue of Cosmopolitan Magazine.

Reynolds claims he was offered the role of James Bond by producer Albert R. Broccoli, after Sean Connery left the franchise. Reynolds turned the role down, saying "An American can't play James Bond. It just can't be done."^[10] In 1973, he released the album Ask Me What I Am. He would also sing with Dolly Parton in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

Reynolds appeared on ABC's The American Sportsman hosted by outdoors journalist Grits Gresham, who took celebrities on hunting, fishing, and shooting trips around the world.

On March 15, 1978, Reynolds earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and in the same year built a dinner theatre in Jupiter, Florida. His celebrity was such that he drew not only big-name stars to appear in productions but sell-out audiences as well. He sold the venue in the early 1990s.

In the 1980s, after Smokey and the Bandit, he became typecast in similar, less well-done and less successful movies. Comedian and actor Robert Wuhl, in a standup act in the late 80s, said that "Burt Reynolds makes so many bad movies, when someone else makes a bad movie Burt gets a royalty!" He had his hand at producing a television show with friend Bert Convy in 1987, Win, Lose or Draw. He even appeared as a celebrity gameplayer in a few episodes of the show.

During the first half of the 1990s, he was the star of the CBS television series Evening Shade, for which he won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (1991).

Despite much success, Reynolds's finances were bad, due in part to an extravagant lifestyle, a messy divorce from Loni Anderson (see below), and failed investments in some Florida restaurant chains; consequently, in 1996, Reynolds filed for bankruptcy.^[11][12] The filing was under Chapter 11, from which Reynolds emerged two years later.^[12]

Reynolds started a comeback with the movie Striptease in 1996, and the critically acclaimed Boogie Nights, in 1997, put his career back on track. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Boogie Nights and won a Golden Globe Award for the movie. He was considered a front-runner for the Supporting Oscar, but ultimately lost to Robin Williams, who won it for his role in Good Will Hunting.

In early 2000, he created and toured Burt Reynolds's One-Man Show. In 2002, he lent his voice to the character Avery Carrington in the controversial video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

In 2005, he co-starred in a remake of The Longest Yard, with Adam Sandler playing the role of Paul Crewe, the role Reynolds had played in the 1974 original. This time around, Reynolds took on the role of Nate Scarborough. The irony in Reynolds's participation in the remake was that his role in the 1974 original garnered him a Golden Globe nomination "Best Motion Picture Actor - Musical/Comedy", while his role in the remake saw him receive a Razzie Award nomination for "Worst Supporting Actor". He also appeared in a movie version of the popular 1980s TV series The Dukes of Hazzard, as Boss Hogg.

He starred in the audio book version of The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook. In May 2006, Reynolds began appearing in Miller Lite beer commercials. In 2007 at the World Stuntman Awards he was awarded the Taurus Lifetime Achievement Award. While presenting him with the award Arnold Schwarzenegger referred to him as the greatest of the great.

Personal life

Relationships

At various points in his life, Reynolds was romantically involved with Tammy Wynette, Lucie Arnaz, Adrienne Barbeau, Susan Clark, Sally Field, Lorna Luft, Tawny Little, Pam Seals, Dinah Shore^[13] and Christine Evert.^[14] His relationship with Shore garnered particular attention given the fact she was 20 years his senior. Reynolds was married to actress/comedienne Judy Carne from 1963 to 1965, and actress Loni Anderson from 1988 to 1993, with whom he adopted a son, Quinton Anderson Reynolds (born August 31, 1988).^[15] E! Online reported that he dated Kate Edelman Johnson from 2003 to 2005.^[16]

Sports team owner

In 1982 Reynolds became a co-owner of the Tampa Bay Bandits, a professional football team in the USFL whose nickname was inspired by his then-recent Smokey and the Bandit movies. Reynolds also co-owned a NASCAR Winston Cup team with Hal Needham, which ran the #33 Skoal Bandits car, with driver Harry Gant.

Tax issues

Reynolds is on the list of California delinquent taxpayers with a personal income tax debt of $225,008.64. A tax lien was filed against him on February 22, 1996. It has since been paid in full.^[17]

Filmography

Awards and achievements

Television and general film awards

• Emmy Awards

1991 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (for Evening Shade)

• Golden Globes, USA

1992 Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series - Comedy/Musical (for Evening Shade)

• People's Choice Awards, USA

1979 Favorite Motion Picture Actor

1979 Favorite All-Around Male Entertainer

1980 Favorite Motion Picture Actor

1982 Favorite Motion Picture Actor

1982 Favorite All-Around Male Entertainer

1983 Favorite Motion Picture Actor

1983 Favorite All-Around Male Entertainer

1984 Favorite Motion Picture Actor (tied with Clint Eastwood)

1991 Favorite Male Performer in a New TV Series

• American Movie Awards

1980 Favorite Film Star - Male

• Viewers For Quality Television Awards

1991 Best Actor in a Quality Comedy Series (for Evening Shade)

• Crystal Reel Awards

2002 Lifetime Achievement Award

• ShoWest Convention, USA

1998 Supporting Actor of the Year

• Golden Boot Awards

1990 Golden Boot

• National Association of Theater Owners

1978 Male Star of the Year Award

1980 Male Star of the Year Award

Honorary recognitions

Reynolds has received a number of honorary recognitions over the years, mostly keys to various cities, or deputy badges from being deputized.

• Keys to the cities of: Hollywood, Florida / Miami Beach, Florida / Ocala, Florida / Orlando, Florida / Palm Beach County, Florida / West Palm Beach, Florida/ Buena Park, California / Oxnard, California / Savannah, Georgia / Niagara Falls, New York / Clark County, Nevada / Piggott, Arkansas

• Deputy Sheriff Badges: Leon County, Florida / Tallahassee, Florida / Tampa, Florida / Mitchell County, Georgia / Ramsey County, Minnesota / Hawaii / South Carolina / Warrensville Township, Ohio / Arizona / Buffalo, New York City Police / Jackson Parish, Louisiana / Jefferson Parish, Louisiana / Los Angeles County, California

• 1978 Star (for motion pictures) on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6838 Hollywood Blvd.^[18]
• National Association of Theater Owners No. 1 box-office star for five straight years (1978–82)
• 1987 Eastman Kodak Second Century Award
• 1989 Durex Man Of The Year
• 1991 American Cancer Society's Lifetime Achievement Award
• 2000 Children at Heart Award^[19]
• 2003 Atlanta IMAGE Film and Video Award^[20]
• 2007 Taurus Lifetime Achievement Award
• 2007 Best Buddies Canada Lifetime Achievement Award^[21]

Singles

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Severalsources list Waycross, Georgia as Reynolds's birthplace ("Birthplace". Turner Classic Movies. http://www.tcmdb.com/participant/participant.jsp?participantId=160584. , "Birthplace". Chicago Sun-Times (article from 2007). http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/hoekstra/240075,CST-FTR-rv02.article.  and "Birthplace". Biography Channel. http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biography_story/509:127/1/Burt_Reynolds.htm. ), for example, while other sources show that he was born in Lansing, Michigan (Burt Reynolds's Official website), (NNBD and The Palm Beach Post, June 28, 2000). Reynolds's autobiography (My Life) does not name his birthplace, although it does cover his childhood in Lansing, and fails to mention Waycross at all. For more discussion on Burt Reynolds's birthplace, see ('discussion page)
2. ^ "Birthname". Hollywood.com. http://www.hollywood.com/celebrity/Burt_Reynolds/194565. 
3. ^ "Burt Reynolds". Inside the Actors Studio. Bravo. ; can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YY3cuILM698
4. ^ Reynolds. Pp. 17, 33-7, 41-4
5. ^ Photo gallery of Reynolds at FSU: http://heritage.fsu.edu/photos/burtatfsu.html
6. ^ Reynolds. Pp. 57-9
7. ^ Reynolds. Pp. 59-63.
8. ^ Reynolds. Pp. 63-5.
9. ^ Reynolds. Pp. 65-7.
10. ^ http://movies.monstersandcritics.com/news/article_1038368.php
11. ^ Laura J. Margulies (2008), "Famous Bankruptcies".
12. ^ ^{a b} Gary Eng Walk (07 October1998), "Burt Reynolds closes the book on Chapter 11", Entertainment Weekly
13. ^ Anderson. 251-253, 262-263
14. ^ "Chris". Allmovie.com. http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=2:108069~T1. 
15. ^ BURT AND LONI, AND BABY MAKES GLEE (The Philadelphia Inquirer - September 3, 1988)
16. ^ "Kate". E!. http://www.eonline.com/celebrities/profile/index.jsp?uuid=bf6f466e-efbe-485b-86d1-b0dada8b06c1. 
17. ^ "Delinquent Taxpayers". http://www.ftb.ca.gov/individuals/txdlnqnt.shtml. Retrieved 2010-01-17. 
18. ^ "Walk of Fame". Wire Image. http://www.wireimage.com/GalleryListing.asp?nbc1=1&navtyp=CAL====93100&ym=197803. 
19. ^ "2000 Children at Heart". TV.com. http://www.tv.com/burt-reynolds/person/4742/summary.html. 
20. ^ "2003 Atlanta Image Award". The New Georgia Encyclopedia. http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.com/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-1516&hl=y. 
21. ^ ("Best Buddy Lifetime Achievement Award". tv.yahoo.com). http://tv.yahoo.com/burt-reynolds/contributor/29258/news/urn:newsml:cp.org:20070807:TV-63100030__ER:1.  Burt Reynolds received a lifetime achievement award from Best Buddies Canada. The Oscar-nominated actor received the honour at a benefit gala with musical guest Chantal Kreviazuk in Toronto on September 10, 2007. Best Buddies Canada is a national charitable organization dedicated to fostering friendships between students and individuals with intellectual disabilities. Reynolds is receiving its annual award for his decades-long "commitment to aiding and inspiring youth by supporting drama education and humanitarian causes", said the group. Such causes include the Burt Reynolds Institute for Theatre in Tequest, Florida, founded by the legendary actor in 1979. Donations by the star have also helped establish the Burt Reynolds Eminent Scholar Chair in Regional and Professional Theatre at Florida State University, and the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida Reynolds has already been honoured for his efforts in aiding the children of Chernobyl.

References

• Reynolds, Burt. (1994) My Life. New York: Hyperion. ISBN 0-7868-6130-4
• Anderson, Loni. (1997) My Life in High Heels. Avon Books. ISBN 9780380728541

External links

• Reynolds's official website
• Burt Reynolds at the Internet Movie Database
• Burt Reynolds & Friends Museum
• TIME Magazine (article from Monday, Aug.21, 1972)
• Chicago Sun-Times (article from February 7, 2007)
• New York Times biography
• Channel 4 (UK television)
• Photo gallery of Reynolds at FSU

Burt Reynolds main page.